Google, Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai, and Nvidia have formed the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) in the hopes of improving our automotive experience through openness, customization, and scale. Mirroring the scope and message of the Open Handset Alliance that helped make Android prolific in the mobile space, the partnership will bring these companies together to build a common automobile computing platform, while retaining for each manufacturer the ability to create a unique visual experience for the users.

Nvidia's role is interesting, especially in light of the launch of the Tegra K1 on Sunday and its automotive potential. Nvidia's strength in SoCs has been its GPU, which has grown larger with each Tegra generation. The Tegra K1 is equipped with 192 Kepler-based GPU cores, paired with either a quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 or dual-core Denver ARMv8 64-bit application processor. During the announcement, Nvidia highlighted how such a powerful SoC could be used to render near-photorealistic dials for a dashboard and how well suited those 192 CUDA cores would be for assisting the driver by monitoring the environment for hazards and providing alerts.

Skeptics might be concerned by the prospect of giving any open software control over vital automotive functions, and the OAA is aware of those concerns. In its FAQ, the group cites collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and emphasizes that the current initiative would "enable better integration between cars and Android devices in order to create a safer, car optimized experience." The implication is that the system might function less like a standalone Android device and more like a supplement to your own device. The FAQ goes on to describe future plans to "enable the car itself to become a connected Android device."

The OAA promises equipped vehicles will ship before the end of the year, so we imagine there will be more than a few demos to play with here at CES.

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I was wondering why they haven't done this already for the in-dash displays which I generally find fiddly and not particularly nice to use. I'd much rather use google maps than whatever dreadful satnav the car manufacturer builds into their cars.

It would be better for usability if manufacturers standardised on existing touch screen operating systems instead of trying to develop their own. On the flipside, the operating systems themselves would be further enriched by being adapted for automotive use. A new market could be created for automotive versions of apps which seamlessly integrate into the hardware controls exposed by vehicles (ie: being able to control Spotify via your steering wheel music and volume controls).

Finally this could greatly enhance mobile device integration. Rather than being limited to the most bare bones bluetooth integration (call handling, forwarding music) a deeper level of integration could be achieved and standardised across vehicles.

Yep, I'd want a hackable, insecure operating system embedded in my car and flashing Google ads across the windscreen. What can possibly go wrong?

You'll have more time for those Google ads once your car is driving itself. Just don't click on any of them, or your car will drive itself to the ad's closest available retail location. This could be potentially embarrassing depending on the ad's content.

Interesting that it's Audi and not all of VAG, and Hyundai but not also Kia. Conversely, it's GM in its entirety and not just one of their sub-brands like with Audi and VAG.

Also, I'm not sure why you think it's so odd that nVidia would be involved. They've made a big deal out of their Tegra chips powering several of today's infotainment systems - not the least of which is the Model S from Tesla.

I'm already paranoid about excessive data collection, grabbing your car's MAC address at every light doesn't sound so appealing with the state of things but I suppose privacy on the road isn't something we should expect.

Will it take a year to get critical security updates, like on my Android phone?

I think they should either keep "entertainment" systems and ECU completely separated or be forced by law to update it for 1-2 decades, otherwise we are all in danger. Do you think old car models will be supported forever? I would hate to be forced to dump my car because it's software cannot be patched.

I'm already paranoid about excessive data collection, grabbing your car's MAC address at every light doesn't sound so appealing with the state of things but I suppose privacy on the road isn't something we should expect.

I know I don't speak for everyone, but I have no desire to put Google in my car, for exactly this reason.

I'm already paranoid about excessive data collection, grabbing your car's MAC address at every light doesn't sound so appealing with the state of things but I suppose privacy on the road isn't something we should expect.

You say that as if the same potential doesn't exist on smart phones now.

The only thing I want from the touch screen in my car is to be able to slip my phone into a small compartment and use the screen in my car to control it using an elegant "2 foot" touch display for communications, music, maps, and resource locators like Yelp, etc.

I'm already paranoid about excessive data collection, grabbing your car's MAC address at every light doesn't sound so appealing with the state of things but I suppose privacy on the road isn't something we should expect.

You say that as if the same potential doesn't exist on smart phones now.

The lack of privacy on one device doesn't justify neglecting privacy on a second.

The relative loss of privacy here may be minimal if your phone and car are on the same platform. But if they are different platforms (e.g. one is iOS and the other is Android), you are multiplying the number of entities you are giving your data to.

I'm already paranoid about excessive data collection, grabbing your car's MAC address at every light doesn't sound so appealing with the state of things but I suppose privacy on the road isn't something we should expect.

You say that as if the same potential doesn't exist on smart phones now.

You can turn your phone off whilst driving - indeed it might make sense to do so if you're not depending on it for nav. You can't turn the car off.

Although, cars do usually have a device on them purely for the purpose of identification. Nobody (credible) would want that to go away I suspect, but it's understandable that having your every car journey accurately tracked puts the heebie-jeebies up people.

Privacy is weird. I guess it's something to do with the fact that, normally, so long as you're not doing anything particularly untoward, your numberplate would be forgotten by most? Whereas electronic data might hang around forever.

Is this alliance going to be as open as the OHA? That is, one partner, Google, basically developing behind closed doors, and, as things have evolved, closing off more and more of it (via Google Play components) as time goes by?

I was wondering why they haven't done this already for the in-dash displays which I generally find fiddly and not particularly nice to use. I'd much rather use google maps than whatever dreadful satnav the car manufacturer builds into their cars.

It would be better for usability if manufacturers standardised on existing touch screen operating systems instead of trying to develop their own. On the flipside, the operating systems themselves would be further enriched by being adapted for automotive use. A new market could be created for automotive versions of apps which seamlessly integrate into the hardware controls exposed by vehicles (ie: being able to control Spotify via your steering wheel music and volume controls).

Finally this could greatly enhance mobile device integration. Rather than being limited to the most bare bones bluetooth integration (call handling, forwarding music) a deeper level of integration could be achieved and standardised across vehicles.

I'm as much of a gadget guy as the next, but I am utterly allergic to this sort of thing in my car, Android, iOS, or otherwise. I still drive a 2001 Honda. Not because I don't have the resources to buy a new car, but because it's rock-solid reliable and so utterly, blissfully simple: No screens, no user-facing computers, no automatic HVAC system, no electronic gauges, no distractions. Just a handful of solid-feeling knobs and switches that perform a single, defined, unchanging task. All of it still works perfectly. None of it has ever required a software update, nor have I ever felt I'm missing out on a chance to "tweak" my car.

I love my car specifically because it is the last space I regularly occupy where I am not inundated with technology and fussy user interfaces. I'll be a sad panda when it goes to the big salvage yard in the sky.

I see a lot of people worrying over nothing here. I don't think these are Android devices, like a tablet or phone, but Android PERIPHERALS, like smart screens. Cars last for years, sometimes decades. The embedded GPS and Infotainment System in a car will be worthless within a few years if it's not kept up to date technologically, and you can't really do that reasonably well in a car. This is Google and a number of people coming up with common standards for how the embedded part can be controlled by a non-embedded part (aka, your cell phone) to provide the prime computation platform, or the "content". The car will simply have specific Apps that control monitoring specific to that make/model, and make enable services to the phone. So in essence, this is the folks creating the equivalent of the DVI, PS2, HDMI, and USB standards all in one for Android enabled devices embedded in future cars. So in 2040, you'll be able to get in your antique 2019 Corvette, and still attach your Samsung Galaxy S-XV running Android 11.2 and stream Harry Potter 22: The Next Next Generation for your wife over the embedded screen, all while using the HUD for GPS from your phone implant.

I see a lot of people worrying over nothing here. I don't think these are Android devices, like a tablet or phone, but Android PERIPHERALS, like smart screens. Cars last for years, sometimes decades. The embedded GPS and Infotainment System in a car will be worthless within a few years if it's not kept up to date technologically, and you can't really do that reasonably well in a car. This is Google and a number of people coming up with common standards for how the embedded part can be controlled by a non-embedded part (aka, your cell phone) to provide the prime computation platform, or the "content". The car will simply have specific Apps that control monitoring specific to that make/model, and make enable services to the phone. So in essence, this is the folks creating the equivalent of the DVI, PS2, HDMI, and USB standards all in one for Android enabled devices embedded in future cars. So in 2040, you'll be able to get in your antique 2019 Corvette, and still attach your Samsung Galaxy S-XV running Android 11.2 and stream Harry Potter 22: The Next Next Generation for your wife over the embedded screen, all while using the HUD for GPS from your phone implant.

Or something like that.

Yes and no. Here's what they say on their site:"We're working with our partners to enable better integration between cars and Android devices in order to create a safer, car optimized experience. We're also developing new Android platform features that will enable the car itself to become a connected Android device. Stay tuned for more details coming soon."http://www.openautoalliance.net/#contact

I think treating the car system as a peripheral is a good approach, although there would be no reason to lock it into Android (except to be anti-competitive). But that is not the full scope of what they are doing.

The "Driving Experience" is being slowly killed by the auto makers. You should feel the road through the steering wheel, feel the engine through the accelerator pedal and hear it roar when you floor it, instead of some shitty electronic throttle which decides on its own whether it wants to open or not, hear the chatter of the valves and the injectors, smell the gasoline.And if anything breaks you should be able to go and buy spare parts and fix it yourself.

Today's cars are more like aluminium self driving,self parking bath tubs with leather seats, laser light shows and touch screens inside.And woe onto ye if anything breaks, to the dealer you go, through the nose you pay.

You should feel the road through the steering wheel, feel the engine through the accelerator pedal and hear it roar when you floor it, instead of some shitty electronic throttle which decides on its own whether it wants to open or not, hear the chatter of the valves and the injectors, smell the gasoline.And if anything breaks you should be able to go and buy spare parts and fix it yourself.

That may be what you want, and I hope you find it. But I've never gotten into my car and wished for any of those things.

I'm already paranoid about excessive data collection, grabbing your car's MAC address at every light doesn't sound so appealing with the state of things but I suppose privacy on the road isn't something we should expect.

You say that as if the same potential doesn't exist on smart phones now.

The fact that it's a problem is not a reason to make the problem worse.

Today's cars are more like aluminium self driving,self parking bath tubs with leather seats, laser light shows and touch screens inside.And woe onto ye if anything breaks, to the dealer you go, through the nose you pay.

Spiralling repair costs are not a product of electronics; they are a product of [proprietary electronics restricted to approved repair services. Standardized electronics could be much easier and cheaper to repair than the mechanical parts they replaced. The problem is that those electronics are designed not for reliability, or repairablity, but to be difficult to maintain by anyone that's not an manufacturer-approved maintenance house.

And restricted, manufacturer-approved repair channels, well... let me put it this way: I know several honest car mechanics that give honest prices and reasonable rates. None of them work for car dealerships. Every dealership repair department I know embodies every terrible stereotype about the dishonest, price-gouging shyster.

Google will start it open but end up closing it down just like they did with Android! Nobody will be able to fork it since they will loose all the proprietary good stuff that makes it useful in the first place. Then Google will add in some nasty language that if you ever fork you are looked out of the other way permanently. All or nothing...

Should just be able to plug in your phone (via Bluetooth) to make the car "personalized" for you. Your phone can become your key.

Automakers just need provide a consistent interface and let everyone else bring their computer (whatever it is). They can provide a "basic" computer for those situations where you don't have a phone/computer.

But some paranoid types may want to stick with cars that can run dark, no chips at all!

Will it take a year to get critical security updates, like on my Android phone?

If you think phone manufacturers and wireless carriers are stingy with their updates, wait until you have to deal with a car company or dealership.

This.

I have a 2007 Hond Fit with their ridiculously expensive iPod "iLink" attachment. It never worked correctly, and after two iPod model updates and a like/hate relationship with my iPhone 5, I'll never go proprietary again with respect to cars.

Interestingly, when I complained (politely, and with much detail) to Honda Canada, I was told that "well, you do realize that Honda doesn't actually MAKE the adapter, we source it from a third party, and that third party is no longer updating it..."

Yeah. My very, very, very expensive music system now is a very big PITA and Honda disavowed culpability by ignoring that great big HONDA logo, part number, and INVOICE I have.

Should just be able to plug in your phone (via Bluetooth) to make the car "personalized" for you. Your phone can become your key.

Automakers just need provide a consistent interface and let everyone else bring their computer (whatever it is). They can provide a "basic" computer for those situations where you don't have a phone/computer.

But some paranoid types may want to stick with cars that can run dark, no chips at all!

Like my '89 Jeep which I expect to be driving for the foreseeable future.